100 years later: WWII bomb found in Hong Kong; 6,000 residents being evacuated

Hong Kong police on Friday announced plans to evacuate around 6,000 residents after a World War II bomb was found at a construction site in Quarry Bay. The bomb is about 1.5 metres long and weighs nearly 450 kilograms. Police said it remains “fully functional” and warned of high risks in dismantling it. Residents from 18 buildings will be moved out on Friday night, while bomb disposal teams will begin work early Saturday morning. From around 6 pm, authorities carried out door-to-door checks to ensure all residents had vacated the affected buildings, according to local news paper The Standard. Hong Kong was an early target of Japanese forces during World War II and saw heavy fighting. Even today, unexploded bombs are sometimes found by workers and hikers. In 2018, a similar bomb was discovered in the Wan Chai district, forcing the evacuation of 1,200 people. That disposal operation had taken about 20 hours.In June, over 20,000 people were evacuated from Cologne’s city centre in Germany after three unexploded US bombs from World War II were found.According to Deutsche Welle, unexploded bombs remain a serious problem in Europe. Similar dangers also persist in Vietnam, Laos, Gaza and Ukraine.